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Had new capacitor installed today and now bathroom outlet makes a pop noise

Had new capacitor installed today and now bathroom outlet makes a pop noise


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Old 05-20-13, 02:33 PM
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Had new capacitor installed today and now bathroom outlet makes a pop noise

I'm not sure if this should belong here or in the electrical forum but I had a capacitor installed today in my A/C unit. Since the installation, I've noticed that one of my bathroom outlets is making a popping noise every once in awhile. I initially thought it was every time the A/C kicked on but that doesn't seem to be the case. Not sure if I need to call the company back that installed the cap or a electrician.
 
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Old 05-20-13, 03:16 PM
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I have moved your post because the new cap shouldn't affect the bathroom. Open the receptacle and look for loose wires.
 
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Old 05-20-13, 03:18 PM
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Is that receptacle a GFI type ?
 
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Old 05-20-13, 03:29 PM
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Yes the receptacle is GFI.
 
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Old 05-20-13, 04:48 PM
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I also want to add that this popping has been going on and off for the past few months. It usually pops when my wife plugs in her hair dryer. Once she is done, I walk over to the bathroom and simply press the Reset button. All of a sudden today, after the new cap was installed, I hear the pop sound and then go Reset it and like 10-15 minutes later, there is a continuous pop for about 10 - 15 seconds.

I'll take a look at the receptacle here shortly but I am by no means an electrician.
 
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Old 05-20-13, 08:26 PM
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Your wife plugs in the blow dryer and it pops. Does it just make a popping sound or does it actually trip and then you have to reset it to get it to work ?

I'm a little baffled by a popping sound. I think I might try changing the GFI receptacle to see if that's the issue.
 
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Old 05-20-13, 08:32 PM
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Welcome to the forums!

I'll take a look at the receptacle here shortly but I am by no means an electrician.
Turn the power off before you start.

Pull the GFCI receptacle out of the box and look at it - just look. You should see that there are two two brass back-clamp terminals on one side and two silver back-clamp terminals on the other side. On the back, one brass/silver pair should have the word LINE embossed between the terminals. The other pair should have the word LOAD embossed between them.

There should be one cable coming into the box that has its black wire terminated to the brass LINE terminal and its white wire terminated to the silver LINE terminal. That will be the cable bringing power from the breaker. There may be more cables, and their wires may be terminated to either pair of terminals.

About all you can do is verify that the wires all appear to be stripped properly (no bare wire showing outside the clamps), that they are properly paired on either LINE or LOAD, and that the screws for the clamps are decently tight. Post back if you see anything that doesn't look right.
 
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Old 05-21-13, 05:20 AM
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The popping sound may be arcing from a loose connection. The load could be going through the GFI. Post back the results after checking the connections.

You also ruled out the cap issue when you said this has been happening before the cap was installed. Your AC is a dedicated 240 volt circuit also.
 
 

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